Tuesday, 30 November 2010

After a bit of a slow start, I now can't imagine a week that isn't lit up by peeking in on whatever ol' blowfish cheeks and her friends are up to, even if it means waiting a little longer to enjoy her randomness on occasion.

Episode eight of Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru beings with Hotori, Tatsuno and Kon stranded outside a shop in the middle of a sudden down-pour, an event which brings lots of the usual snippets of weather-related pleasantries we're all used to, together with some rather more left-field ideas (from Hotori of course). Come to think of it, why don't weathermen have an equivalent of batting averages? With the girls' clothes soaked and them handily standing outside a laundrette, Hotori suggests that they dry their clothes in said establishment - a slightly crazy idea that becomes inevitable thanks to the misfortune that descends upon them soon after. With clothes somewhat dry and avoiding the continuing torrent of rain in mind, we end up exploring the alien vending machine technology and the like on offer within this laundrette - only SHAFT could make a series where talking about vending machines is genuinely funny, I would wager.

For the second half of the episode, we enter the inevitable world of the school culture festival, and although Hotori's class doesn't have an event planned for said festival an opportunity soon presents itself courtesy of Kon looking for some additional members to join a makeshift band she's putting together to perform on stage. If you've seen the end credits to this series (you have watched them, right?) then you probably know what's coming next, with Hotori offering her services playing "something a bit keyboard-y" while Tatsuno manages to provide "something a bit like a guitar". But not a triangle, though. Anyway, all of this really just leads up to an excuse for the girls to play the B-side to the recently released Maids Sanjou! single; a performance which goes down well with the watching crowd, whilst also proving that Hotori isn't useless at absolutely everything after all.

Maybe it's just the mood I'm in (I've been cracking jokes all day at work), but I couldn't stop laughing at the first half of this episode - lots of generally mundane yet still highly amusing observations on life, the weather and vending machines that goes to show the power of putting this series' three main characters in a small space together and just letting them chat. If you haven't noticed the decent and growing character dynamic between Hotori, Kon and Tatsuno, then this is the episode that arguably proves its worth, even in the second half of the episode which has less laughs but still proves entertaining enough while also shifting Tatsuno's relationship with Hustleryuki.... sorry, Sanada. Anyhow, another fun episode from a series which grows on me a little more every week.